Fire And Ice (1920)
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~Robert Frost
From the Wiki:
In an anecdote he recounted in 1960 in a "Science and the Arts" presentation, prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley claims to have inspired "Fire and Ice". Shapley describes an encounter he had with Robert Frost a year before the poem was published in which Frost, noting that Shapley was the astronomer of his day, asks him how the world will end. Shapley responded that either the sun will explode and incinerate the Earth, or the Earth will somehow escape this fate only to end up slowly freezing in deep space. Shapley was surprised at seeing "Fire and Ice" in print a year later, and referred to it as an example of how science can influence the creation of art, or clarify its meaning. Link
Science should inspire art. Full stop.
21 comments:
If you're old enough, you can remember science stridently warning about global cooling and "Nuclear Winters."
Temperature extremists have reversed signs.
No one believes in equilibria.
Le Chatelier spins in his grave, as does van 't Hoff.
"But if it had to perish twice"
You only Live Twice
Gee, Lem, thanks for the post-over.
Sorry. I'll push it up a little.
Lem, I was kidding!
Now I have to stay up later to to make my comment about Bond songs.
Here it is: Why are so may Bond songs so forgettable?
I'm including the latest one, "Sky Fall" by what's her name -- the one who is perpetually getting dumped.
The choice of responding "in the comments" as opposed to "the big screen"... is something that would deviate from the theme of the post. Sorry again.
There is a woman where I work part time who always switches the channel to the "aggreived women" channel. It's non-stop Adele and the like, singing well-wishes to the guys who dumped them.
Most of them sound kind of similar?
That would be my guess, if I had to beat a buzzard.
Is it mostly women singers?
Lem, there is some crazy shit going on at TOP right now. Someone -- probably Inga -- is yucking it up by pretending to be anyone who shows up to comment -- stealing people's handles. I remember this happening 4 or 5 years ago there and how it brought discussion of anything to a screeching halt.
That's the left for you -- shouting things down.
Lem said...
Is it mostly women singers?
100%
Birds and sea singing mammals, which sex does the singing?
Do you know?
Lem said...
Birds and sea singing mammals, which sex does the singing?
Males.
Females judge.
Right.
@Lem: This song ties together "Adele songs" and song birds: link.
Annie Gottlieb tweeted a line from that song: ...and the songbirds keep singing like they know the score (without attribution) during the throes of her husband's illness and death. I wondered if anyone else saw or got that.
Amba?
Frost found a metaphor in the dry account by the scientist. Or stole a metaphor, if you prefer. In other words an artist is looking for different things in the data than a scientist is looking for in the data. Very different critters. But there seems to be a need on the part of many to see the world ala C.P. Snow.
"Science should inspire art."
That's a bold statement. Will you give other examples?
I can think of two: Rocket Man and Space Oddity ;)
H.G. Wells and Fredrick Soddy.
Thanks. Don't know Soddy. What about paintings? Not the obvious like a portrait of Edison at work. I'll put my thinking cap on.
The title reminded me of this poem. Here are the last three stanzas:
"Great lovers lie in Hell, the stubborn ones
Infatuate of the flesh upon the bones;
Stuprate, they rend each other when they kiss,
The pieces kiss again, no end to this.
But still I watched them spinning, orbited nice.
Their flames were not more radiant than their ice.
I dug in the quiet earth and wrought the tomb
And made these lines to memorize their doom:—
EPITAPH
Equilibrists lie here; stranger, tread light;
Close, but untouching in each other's sight;
Mouldered the lips arid ashy the tall skull.
Let them lie perilous and beautiful."
The Equilibrists
'Night.
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